The Phenomenal Pedro Martinez

For the past couple of years the baseball media can rarely go a day without mentioning the name Roger Clemens. Every time Roger Clemens takes the mound the media makes an event out of it. You'll hear "This is the first time a three hundred game winner has faced a hitter with seven hundred career homeruns" or "this is the first time two three hundred game winners have faced each other", or maybe even "this is the first time a three hundred game winner will face a guy with the initials X. Z on a Tuesday in May with a .317 batting average at home". Every time he takes the mound they try and make it seem special. Roger Clemens deserves a lot of pub, after all he's won 300 games, and he has struck out 3,000 batters and continues to pitch great over the age of 40. But as we wonder if Clemens will play next year, or more likely, play half a season next year, only at home games if he feels like it, we might just miss out on another pitcher. This pitcher might just be the best pitcher of this generation. He might be the best pitcher of all time. He might even be better than Roger Clemens.

Pedro Martinez won his 200th game in a 4 - 3 win over the rival Braves on April 17th and are just two strikeouts shy of 3,000 for his career. In addition to that, Pedro Martinez boasts a 2.77 career ERA. In the history of baseball, out of thousands and thousands of pitchers, only three have completed their career with 200 wins, 3,000 strikeouts and an ERA below 3.00. If Pedro Martinez keeps his career ERA under 3.00, he will be the fourth. On a side note Roger Clemens is NOT one of these three pitchers; they are Tom Seaver, Walter Johnson, and Bob Gibson.

Do you need more proof of Pedro's greatness? Well let's compare him to Roger Clemens. Clemens is probably most well known for his ability to strikeout players, he is after all second all time in strikeouts. However, Roger Clemens notched his 3,000th strikeout in 1998 at the age of 35. Barring a horrible accident Pedro Martinez will also notch his 3,000th strikeout at the age of 35. Roger Clemens received his 200th win in 1997 when he was 34; Pedro Martinez also gained his 200th win at the age of 34. After the 1997 season Roger Clemens had a winning percentage of .663, Pedro's winning percentage is currently .701. At the age of 34 Roger Clemens had walked 924 batters; Pedro Martinez has only walked 701. It's clear that, while Roger has better total numbers, that Pedro Martinez at this point in his career is just as dominant as Roger Clemens was at the same point, if not more dominant.

Let's forget about Roger Clemens though, how does Pedro Martinez stack up against other active pitchers. Currently Pedro Martinez is only behind Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Mike Mussina, Jamie Moyer, Kevin Brown, David Wells and Kenny Rogers in innings pitched, but all of those guys have played more seasons than Pedro, so Pedro has more innings pitched than anyone who has pitched as long as he has. Pedro is fourth among active pitchers in strikeouts. He'll probably catch third place Greg Maddux by 2007 or 2008, even though Greg Maddux has played six more seasons than Pedro. Among active players Pedro is ninth in wins. He'll cruise past Jamie Moyer, Kevin Brown, and David Wells pretty easily. After that there will only be Roger Clemens, Greg Maddux, Randy Johnson, Tom Glavine and Mike Mussina ahead of him. Pedro's career ERA of 2.72 ranks him second out of active pitchers behind only Mariano Rivera, meaning Pedro Martinez ranks first out of starting pitchers.

If that still isn't enough to show you how great Pedro Martinez is here are a few more facts. Pedro Martinez has the best Strikeout to Walk Ratio in the history of baseball. Pedro Martinez is also the all time leader in winning percentage. He has averaged over 10 strikeouts per 9 innings for his career which ranks him third all time, higher than Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens. His career WHIP is 1.0215, third best in the history of baseball, better than Christy Matthewson, Walter Johnson, Sandy Koufax, Ryan, Clemens, Randy Johnson and Greg Maddux. Pedro Martinez only allows a little less than seven hits per 9 innings, third best in the history of baseball. Pedro Martinez has led the league in ERA five times, which is the third most times. He's finished in the top 10 in strikeouts for 12 consecutive years, only one of those years did he not finish in the top 5, and three times he finished first. He's been picked to be on eight All Star teams, won the Triple Crown for pitchers in 1999, won three CY Young Awards and even finished second in the MVP voting in 1999.

Last week the New York Mets announced that Pedro Martinez would miss the Mets playoffs and possibly as much as half of next year. But there is no doubt that in his first game back Pedro Martinez will notch his 3,000th strikeout. Unfortunately the injuries have slowed him down and he's not going to have a career as long as Roger Clemens or Greg Maddux, but as far as talent goes, he's as good as they come. So next time Pedro Martinez pitches take a long hard look at the game, watch and revel in the fact that you get to watch one of the greatest pitchers that ever lived.